Welding systems reside at the core of the modern industrial age. From massive automobile assembly operations to automated manufacturing environments, these systems facilitate joining in ever more complicated manufacturing operations. Hot wire welding processes a wire or electrode being heated (e.g., via current) and received by a puddle created by a main heat source (e.g., plasma arc, tungsten inert gas (TIG) welding, metal inert gas (MIG) welding, flux core, laser, among others). The hot wire welding process includes the resistance heating of the up to or near a melting point of such wire. In hot wire welding processes, the formation of an arc is avoided since an arc condition disrupts or overheats the puddle. A wire heated near or close to the melting point of the wire without arcing events is received by the puddle with little or no disruption. In order to prevent a formation of an arc, a welding parameter related to the workpiece can be detected. The welding parameter can indicate an arc condition in which the hot wire welding process can be adjusted.
Additionally, welding may involve, raising, cladding, building up, filling, hard facing, overlaying, joining, and other welding applications. When confronted with a workpiece having a curved surface, an orbital welding processes may be used to rotate the welding head to apply a weld to the curved surface. The most common examples, where orbital welding is used, is the welding of pipe. Pipe welding may include thin wall application where the welding head is rotated about the other surface two piece ends being joined together, alternatively, pipe welding may include deep grove geometries where the welding electrode extends into a grove formed between the two pipes being joined to lay down successive beads of weld material to fill the grove the join the thick walled pipes. Orbital welding systems may include a welding head that is mounted on a guide track or a fixture that clamps or is otherwise supported on the workpiece and rotated to supply a weld. With orbital welding often involves limited visibility of a welding zone with lead cameras and/or trailing cameras.
Fusion into a sidewall of a joint or a more narrow “V” groove can lead to pockets of a lack of material (e.g., weld deposit) that should be existent therein. These pockets require repair by grounding out or being re-welded. In either of orbital welding systems or non-orbital welding systems, lack of fusion, among other welding defects, requires repair which can add costs to a welding job as well as an increase in time for welding job completion. Lack of fusion can be defined as the poor adhesion of a weld bead to a base metal and incomplete penetration is a weld bead that does not start at a root of a weld groove. Further, welding techniques are attempting to minimize the total amount of welding by decreasing a width of a joint (e.g., more narrow “V” groove) which translates into a steeper sidewall. A steeper sidewall is harder to penetrate into during a welding operation.
Orbital welding systems and non-orbital welding systems can be compromised by groove geometries and/or steeper sidewalls with a workpiece and what is needed is an improved technique to related to preventing lack of fusion during a welding operation.